Product Description

From America's foremost criminal defense lawyer and author of the bestselling How to Argue and Win Every Time comes this riveting, true account of a trial that adeptly exposes the unrelenting power of the state, which so often crushes those -- guilty or innocent -- who come before the bar of justice. It could happen to you.
When Sandy Jones and her teenage son were accused of murdering a real estate developer on their hardscrabble Oregon farm, the prosecution had an eyewitness to the shooting and a photograph of Sandy holding a smoking rifle. County officials kept Sandy in jail while they awaited the trial, despite ballistic evidence that strongly suggested she hadn't fired the fatal shot. The case erupted into an epic struggle between Sandy -- who was poor, different, and a woman -- and the ""good old boys"" of Lincoln County, Oregon, who held all the power.
Though the Joneses' guilt seemed eminently clear to the county and the prosecution, Gerry Spence, renowned for his work on the cases of Karen Silkwood and Randy Weaver at Ruby Ridge, took the case pro bono and the courtroom battle exploded into three years of intensely moving jury trials, recounted here from the record of the case. The Smoking Gun follows Gerry Spence through his passionate arguments with two different judges and two different prosecutorial teams, his exacting jury selection, his expert questioning of the witnesses, and his incredible rapport with the jury as he fights for the rights of Sandy and her son.
With a superb sense of drama and an intimate knowledge of the court system, Spence highlights the pitfalls that every defendant faces, making The Smoking Gun extremely relevant today, when our rights are being eroded and when the average American, even if innocent, is hard-pressed to obtain a fair trial.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #76179 in eBooks
• Published on: 2004-01-07
• Released on: 2004-01-07
• Format: Kindle Book
• Number of items: 1

From Booklist
Gerry Spence, the loud, large, imposing Wyoming lawyer who became a household name during the O. J. trial, lends credibility to the Sixth Amendment "right to counsel" by taking on unpopular clients and going up against the mighty machine of the state. Here, Spence recounts in chilling detail the case against a poor mother and her son, both accused of murder in Oregon. Once the state has its suspect, Spence argues, watch out, for all the stops are pulled out so as to prove that the police, the D.A.'s office, and even the judges did not make a mistake. Feeling for this family, Spence agrees to join the defense team pro bono, helping two talented court-appointed attorneys. We have the privilege of getting inside Spence's head, from the heartfelt compassion for his client to the analysis of the evidence to his clear disdain for many aspects of our legal system, especially how the accused is treated as guilty until proven innocent. A true maverick, Spence is someone you'd want on your side. Mary Frances Wilkens
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review
Gerry Spence is just as good a writer as John Grisham. . . . Spence's writing brings [the characters] to life. -- Massachusetts Bar Association Lawyers Journal

Gerry Spence is just as good a writer as John Grisham. . . . Spence's writing brings [the characters] to life. -- Massachusetts Law Review

Judge Jim Randall Minnesota Court of Appeals See a murder trial, The Smoking Gun, through the eyes of Gerry Spence. There is no better seat, no better-equipped luxury box, no better insider's position than through Spence's unflinching vision. -- Review

Remarkable . . . Read "The Smoking Gun." I believe you will be a better lawyer -- criminal or civil -- for it. -- Washington State Trial Lawyers Association newsletter, October 2003

Sometimes self-righteous, sometimes merciless: an unforgettable account of the state's power against individuals who might be innocent. -- Kirkus Reviews (starred review), July 1, 2003

Spence's words flow from the pages . . . a gripping story. -- Wyoming Tribune-Eagle, October 3, 2003

[A] mesmerizing and frightening true tale . . . [Spence] is a great trial lawyer. He also happens to be an excellent writer. -- The San Diego Union-Tribune, Sept. 7, 2003

an electrifying and sensational true story . . . Spence is a gifted storyteller and his rhetorical skills are mesmerizing. . . . [a] thrilling account -- Publishers Weekly, June 9, 2003

fascinating . . . The Smoking Gun provides an informative glimpse inside American justice. -- The Washington Post, Sept. 14, 2003

Review
John Grisham

For all those who casually believe that the accused are presumed innocent and that they will receive a fair trial, The Smoking Gun will be a slap in the face.

Publishers Weekly

An electrifying and sensational true story.

Customer Reviews

An Inexhaustable Defense of the Innocent
Gerry Spence, the Dean of the Criminal Defense Bar, gives a fascinating account of an innocent woman's hellish, almost neverending, journey through the criminal justice system. He exposes the frightening, unethical, efforts of the prosecutors to convict Sandy Jones. For those who've been charged with a serious crime, that assistant district attorneys intimidate witnesses, berate crime lab technicians who come to the "wrong" conclusions, slander defense counsel in the newspapers, and "cook" the evidence, this poor woman's story will come as no surprise. For most readers, this sometimes exhausting, but riveting book will expose a truth -- that prosecutors, the flawed human beings compromised by the very power bestowed upon them, are hardly the white knights of the criminal justice system. By the end of the book, it's clear that without an energetic, caring, skilled and unintimidated attorney, Sandy Jones would have spent the rest of her life in a concrete coffin.

A Gerry Spence masterpiece
Gerry Spence has succeeded Robert Traver (John Voelker), Louis Nizer, Jake Ehrlich, and Francis Wellman as the popular author of real life legal battles. Spence writes his own stuff - unlike Vincent Bugliosi who's had collaborators - and Spence is as candid as Pepys was to his diary. If you're not put off by Spence telling, in every other book, the anguish and ecstacy of his personal life, or how good he is, no legal work, fiction, non-fiction, and certainly not the case reports, can match Gerry's writings. Despite what you star givers write, "The Making of a Country Lawyer," Spence's autobiography, is his best book. Only Reginald Hine's "Confessions of an Uncommon Atorney" can compete. Read Spence's story and, if you've ever gone into business for yourself or tried to bang a buck out of the law while maintaining those "hostages to fortune" at home and yet still struggled to get ahead, see if you don't agree. With the "The Smoking Gun" Spence got it all right again. This one's not as well-known as "Helter Skelter" was nor as riveting but I can't think of an "ordinary" murder case that's been so absorbing story as "The Smoking Gun." Not "An American Tragedy," not "Compulsion," not any of Bugliosi's minor books and certainly nothing by Ann Rule or any of those Texas murder trial accounts. For one, "A Smoking Gun" is a story about a fear that slithers though everyone's subconsciousness and sometimes surfaces in nightmares: being charged with a serious crime one didn't commit and being prosecuted by over zealous DAs who seem to want a conviction more than justice. In addition there's the uncooperative defendant, the courageous judge (Harl Haas of Portland, Oregon), and, of course, Superman to the rescue. But Superman does write masterfully, it's a great story, and I highly recommend it.

Who COASTDA really is
I, for one, thought the book was true to the account. Especially of what Ulys Stapleton and Josh Marquis were telling the public in Newport Oregon at the time. As a long time resident of Newport, to this day I'm appalled at the lack of responsibilty on the part of these two men and this book brought all that back to life. COASTDA is one of them, the latter if I'm not mistaken. In fact, I think it's pathetic that his only recourse is to attack Gerry Spence in this forum after already FAILING in all other attempts to bar him from speaking his piece in this case. I say to these men only, it's been 19yrs...isn't it time to grow up and take responsibility for your actions?